San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1887-11-17
THREE ETON BOYS.
BY w. E. NORRIS

"Oh, the circumstances, chs And pray
what are theyYn
at is needless to speak of Them" cried
De VieuZac, before could answer. "Mr.
Maynard has convinced me that have
been in the wrong, and l shall hasten to
offer my excuses to Mr.. Beauchamp. l
have only to add that if you consider your
self in any way aggrieved by me, my lord,
shall hold myself entirely at your dispo-
sition."
"You seem to be spelling for fight"
remarked Bracknell. 81 don't know that
l have any grievance against you; but I'll
try my best to indulge you by discovering
one"
The Frenchman bowed, pirouetted round
on his heels, and left the room
"NOw, Harry" said BracknelI, per
haps you'll explain yourself OF course |
can guess what those two idiots qua-reled
about, but it seems TO me that Infamous
wretch is pretty strong language for a
cautious fellow like you to use Between
you and me, what did you mean by it ~
Perhaps | was hardly justified in telling
him, but at that moment / really did not
see for whose sake / was bound to be reti-
cent. To my mind there was nothing ex-
traordinary in such a woman as Hilda
wishing to get Beauchamp out of the way
and step into his shoes. 1t has always
seemed to me that murderers are only re-
garded with greater adherence and pun
ished more severely than other criminals
because we all have such strong dislike
to the idea of being murdered, and that
the man who ISLANDERS or cheats me is
morally just about as culpable as the man
who knocks me on the head. Therefore
when had related the events of the day
to Bracknell, l was good deal astonished
at the effect produced upon him by my
narrative. He strobe up and down the
room, muttering furious imprecations and
working himself up into such state Of
blind rage that determined not to let him
out of my sight until he should have be-
come calmer. If Lady Bracknell had
made her appearance just then, l don't
know what catastrophe might have hap
pened.
But the storm soon spent itself. Pres
emily he came and sat down beside me,
saying quietly, "That Frenchman behaved
rather well, think. "
"Well, yes" agreed, II think he Gid.
He is a gentleman and he will hold his
tongue; but l suspect that you won't see
him at your house any more"
Hardly! For the matter Of t!r"t, 1
sha'n't have house much longer. I'm
utterly smashed, and l suppose every stick
in my possession will be sold Up. iicr
ladyship will he a pleasant sort Of "CEI-
panion to face grinding poverty W!th,
won't she? l expect she'll 90 back 10 her
father, though. After all that has hap
pened, don't see that l am bound to go
on living with her. Well, what are you
49, ,,,ly =, n
case of the pot calling the kettle black,
perhaps? I'm black enough, goodness
knows! but you yourself said just now
that you didn't believe had sunk to her
depth of infamy. / allowed her to have
her own way with regard to Beauchamp,
which, if you like, was not pretty beha-
vior; but she represented to me that the
young fool was mad about her, that he
would never marry Mildred, and that, for
poor little Sunning's sake, it would be
thousand pities to let that huge fortune
slip between our fingers. She didn't put
it quite so coarsely as that; she can ex-
press herself in very pleasant and con-
vincing sort of way when she chooses, and
l dare say wasn't unwilling to be con-
vinced." Bracknell paused for a moment
and sighed. "You remember what said
to you the day my poor little man died."
he went on presently. 81 haven't been
able to endure the sight of her since then,
and haven't cared two straws how she
amused herself or what her plots or plans
might be- 1t was all one to me- But l
never suspected her of anything SO tiend
ish as comprising friends death in order
to get hold of his money. No, by Jove! l
never suspected her of that. / shall tell
Beauchamp about it,
81 think you had better not" said.
~ shall, though, he returned; sits the
least can do. If that doesn't cure him,
nothing will; and | owe it to him to do
my best to cure him. | shouldn't be sur
prised if he went off and married Mildred,
after all"
at would be a fitting conclusion to this
highly creditable business" could not
help remarking. "Shall you urge Lady
Mildred to accept him nOw;'
mo" answered Bracknell shortly, II
am not going to urge anybody to do any
thing; they may middle it out among
them. As for me, about the best thing |
could do would be to put bullet into my
head. am sick of all thisn"
ThereupOn he got up and strobe away,
leaving Inc not altogether dissatisfied with
my evenings work. ''There will at least
be no duel now," thought l to myself.
"Hilda's Vaccinations have ended in
complete fiasco; AND, unless am very much
mistaken, she is about to pass through the
most uncomfortable quarter of an hour of
her i'll spent life"